ALVA, Okla. — Down by nine points with 16:20 left in the game, Arkansas Tech’s Wonder Boys outscored Northwestern Oklahoma State 31-13 and put an abrupt end to the Rangers’ seven-game winning streak at the Perecefull Fieldhouse with a 60-51 victory Saturday night.

Arkansas Tech (12-8 overall, 9-5 Great American Conference), like the Golden Suns, not only earned their first win at NWOSU, but moved into sole possession of second in the GAC men’s standings with six games remaining in the regular season.

The Rangers had no answer for Jared Williamson. As another Wonder Boy went down to an injury (junior guard Jay Murphy), the senior from Russellville led everybody with 24 points and was 9-of-15 from the field. Willie Kirkland scored 13 for ATU, while Kendell Pinkney of Dardanelle netted nine.

“Unbelievable,” Wonder Boys head coach Doug Karleskint said after the game. “He made so many tough shots, and they were shots when we really, really needed them. He was just unbelievable. He was fearless taking the ball to the hole. He was great today.

“Early on, it was a tough man’s game, a physical game. But when our teammates were in trouble, he wanted the ball to make a big play.”

Northwestern Oklahoma State (10-10, 8-6) was held to just five 2-point field goals in the game. But junior center Charles Mells dominated the paint and the glass, as he tied the highest rebounding effort by a GAC player this season with 16 boards. He also recorded four blocks. Arkansas Tech outrebounded the Rangers 40-29 and held the Rangers to 30.9 percent shooting from the field.

“We went to a diamond-in-one (defense), and had only used it a couple of times,” Karleskint said. “Kendell did a great job of guarding their 3-point shooter (Daryl Glover), but it was so tough for them to get easy buckets. It seemed that Charles had so many blocks, but you don’t understand how much he altered their offense.”

Northwestern Oklahoma jumped out to an eight-point (19-11) lead with 8:47 to play in the first half. The Rangers continued to hold the Wonder Boys at arm’s length down the stretch in the first half, leading by eight (27-19) as late as the 2:38 mark before Arkansas Tech narrowed the deficit to six (30-24) at halftime.

The Wonder Boys trailed by nine when they went on an 18-3 scoring surge that put them ahead 47-41 with 9:16 to go. Williamson had seven points and Kirkland scored six points during that decisive run.

Tyler Friedel hit a 16-foot jumper from the right baseline with 2:15 to go that pushed ATU’s lead into double figures (57-46). The Wonder Boys led 60-48 in the last minute, and NWOSU went on to lose its first GAC game at home.

“They’ve got some serious guts. Our senior leader, and (Pinkney) know what it takes to win,” Karleskint said. “Those guys are grabbing the others and saying, ‘Follow us. We’ll show you how to be successful, how we’ve been successful.’

“A lot of adversity has hit us, and we’ve found a way to stay together and stay strong.”